What is Design? Asking AI to mimic someone else is stage setting more than design and brings up copyright issues to boot. If Design is analysis of site, programming, budgetary and material components then each would need to be solved through a relational statement when tasking AI to generate output. Ask it to make the most economical design and it may generate a rectangular plan. Then ask it to make the most economical design that meets the program area requirements. It may not include the proper egress paths and simply show spaces adjoining one another. So then you would need to apply an adjacency matrix to prioritize room relationships. Which is more important the adjacency or the economy of the building envelope being as small as possible? So you relax the economical building envelope criteria a little bit to keep the rooms from being odd-shaped and then start looking at fenestration. My point is you should not expect to press a button to have AI design one solution for you, but rather you can generate 100 different options at a time so you can use your wisdom to hone down that 100 to perhaps 10 and then start adding more and more criteria either positive or negative to arrive at the one final solution.

My favorite X-Files episode is where two bumbling gentlemen stumble onto a Genie wrapped in a rug. They then start to ponder how to use their new-found powers and the wishes that they are granted. Each wish causes more and more problems because they are not being specific enough with the criteria of the wish. They finally wish to be invisible and shed their clothing to wander around completely unobserved only to be hit by a truck crossing the road. So we have this electronic genie in AI. It does not think for us, but can perform a specific task faster and does not complain. Let us not surrender our talents for sake of expediency and keep our own standards high throughout the process.

What is Design? Asking AI to mimic someone else is stage setting more than design and brings up copyright issues to boot. If Design is analysis of site, programming, budgetary and material components then each would need to be solved through a relational statement when tasking AI to generate output. Ask it to make the most economical design and it may generate a rectangular plan. Then ask it to make the most economical design that meets the program area requirements. It may not include the proper egress paths and simply show spaces adjoining one another. So then you would need to apply an adjacency matrix to prioritize room relationships. Which is more important the adjacency or the economy of the building envelope being as small as possible? So you relax the economical building envelope criteria a little bit to keep the rooms from being odd-shaped and then start looking at fenestration. My point is you should not expect to press a button to have AI design one solution for you, but rather you can generate 100 different options at a time so you can use your wisdom to hone down that 100 to perhaps 10 and then start adding more and more criteria either positive or negative to arrive at the one final solution.

My favorite X-Files episode is where two bumbling gentlemen stumble onto a Genie wrapped in a rug. They then start to ponder how to use their new-found powers and the wishes that they are granted. Each wish causes more and more problems because they are not being specific enough with the criteria of the wish. They finally wish to be invisible and shed their clothing to wander around completely unobserved only to be hit by a truck crossing the road. So we have this electronic genie in AI. It does not think for us, but can perform a specific task faster and does not complain. Let us not surrender our talents for sake of expediency and keep our own standards high throughout the process.

What is Design? Asking AI to mimic someone else is stage setting more than design and brings up copyright issues to boot. If Design is analysis of site, programming, budgetary and material components then each would need to be solved through a relational statement when tasking AI to generate output. Ask it to make the most economical design and it may generate a rectangular plan. Then ask it to make the most economical design that meets the program area requirements. It may not include the proper egress paths and simply show spaces adjoining one another. So then you would need to apply an adjacency matrix to prioritize room relationships. Which is more important the adjacency or the economy of the building envelope being as small as possible? So you relax the economical building envelope criteria a little bit to keep the rooms from being odd-shaped and then start looking at fenestration. My point is you should not expect to press a button to have AI design one solution for you, but rather you can generate 100 different options at a time so you can use your wisdom to hone down that 100 to perhaps 10 and then start adding more and more criteria either positive or negative to arrive at the one final solution.

My favorite X-Files episode is where two bumbling gentlemen stumble onto a Genie wrapped in a rug. They then start to ponder how to use their new-found powers and the wishes that they are granted. Each wish causes more and more problems because they are not being specific enough with the criteria of the wish. They finally wish to be invisible and shed their clothing to wander around completely unobserved only to be hit by a truck crossing the road. So we have this electronic genie in AI. It does not think for us, but can perform a specific task faster and does not complain. Let us not surrender our talents for sake of expediency and keep our own standards high throughout the process.

Donald, assuming your meme is intended as a serious comment: the meme appears to draw the wrong conclusion. Both results can be achieved with pencil and paper, and both results can be achieved with more recent tools. I believe the differences lie elsewhere.

What is Design? Asking AI to mimic someone else is stage setting more than design and brings up copyright issues to boot. If Design is analysis of site, programming, budgetary and material components then each would need to be solved through a relational statement when tasking AI to generate output. Ask it to make the most economical design and it may generate a rectangular plan. Then ask it to make the most economical design that meets the program area requirements. It may not include the proper egress paths and simply show spaces adjoining one another. So then you would need to apply an adjacency matrix to prioritize room relationships. Which is more important the adjacency or the economy of the building envelope being as small as possible? So you relax the economical building envelope criteria a little bit to keep the rooms from being odd-shaped and then start looking at fenestration. My point is you should not expect to press a button to have AI design one solution for you, but rather you can generate 100 different options at a time so you can use your wisdom to hone down that 100 to perhaps 10 and then start adding more and more criteria either positive or negative to arrive at the one final solution.

My favorite X-Files episode is where two bumbling gentlemen stumble onto a Genie wrapped in a rug. They then start to ponder how to use their new-found powers and the wishes that they are granted. Each wish causes more and more problems because they are not being specific enough with the criteria of the wish. They finally wish to be invisible and shed their clothing to wander around completely unobserved only to be hit by a truck crossing the road. So we have this electronic genie in AI. It does not think for us, but can perform a specific task faster and does not complain. Let us not surrender our talents for sake of expediency and keep our own standards high throughout the process.

Sean,
While I'm a huge proponent of BIM since 2006, the big worry is it taking away our creativity. 

CAD/BIM works easier in straight lines, and are we focusing on what it can do easy vs should do.  

Now coupled with A.I. we can analyze any design to death. 

Will this hinder our creativity as A. I. is based only on past examples?

ps. borrowed that Meme from a post in LinkedIn. 

pps. Which building would you rather walk by?

Donald, assuming your meme is intended as a serious comment: the meme appears to draw the wrong conclusion. Both results can be achieved with pencil and paper, and both results can be achieved with more recent tools. I believe the differences lie elsewhere.

What is Design? Asking AI to mimic someone else is stage setting more than design and brings up copyright issues to boot. If Design is analysis of site, programming, budgetary and material components then each would need to be solved through a relational statement when tasking AI to generate output. Ask it to make the most economical design and it may generate a rectangular plan. Then ask it to make the most economical design that meets the program area requirements. It may not include the proper egress paths and simply show spaces adjoining one another. So then you would need to apply an adjacency matrix to prioritize room relationships. Which is more important the adjacency or the economy of the building envelope being as small as possible? So you relax the economical building envelope criteria a little bit to keep the rooms from being odd-shaped and then start looking at fenestration. My point is you should not expect to press a button to have AI design one solution for you, but rather you can generate 100 different options at a time so you can use your wisdom to hone down that 100 to perhaps 10 and then start adding more and more criteria either positive or negative to arrive at the one final solution.

My favorite X-Files episode is where two bumbling gentlemen stumble onto a Genie wrapped in a rug. They then start to ponder how to use their new-found powers and the wishes that they are granted. Each wish causes more and more problems because they are not being specific enough with the criteria of the wish. They finally wish to be invisible and shed their clothing to wander around completely unobserved only to be hit by a truck crossing the road. So we have this electronic genie in AI. It does not think for us, but can perform a specific task faster and does not complain. Let us not surrender our talents for sake of expediency and keep our own standards high throughout the process.

@Nikolaus H. Philipsen FAIA, I like what you wrote. It was very though provoking.  There's a lot of good stuff happening with technology. I don't think AI is quite there yet but I'd like to think as architects we'll adapt quickly.  Quick being relative, at our office, we recently adopted 3D scanners for documenting as-built drawings of existing buildings &making virtual twins for our projects.  We did almost 30 projects in the past year using this new tool.  We are confident that its making out work more accurate and efficient. The client's definitely see the value.  In the early 90's when I cut my teeth as an architect, the larger firms began using CAD.  By the end of 90's most firms including the small ones were using CAD because the technology became more affordable.  I think it's inevitable,  soon CAD will evolve to AIAD.